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Watertown Town Council May Ask Blue Cross To Sever Ties With 'No Pla

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  • Watertown Town Council May Ask Blue Cross To Sever Ties With 'No Pla

    WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL MAY ASK BLUE CROSS TO SEVER TIES WITH 'NO PLACE FOR HATE' OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
    By Steve Bagley

    Watertown TAB & Press
    Wed Aug 13, 2008, 11:07 AM EDT
    MA

    Watertown's Town Council, which last summer launched a state-wide
    movement to decry the Anti-Defamation League's stance on the Armenian
    Genocide, may also sever ties with Blue Cross Blue Shield over
    the issue.

    The Town Council has decided to send Blue Cross Blue Shield of
    Massachusetts a strongly-worded letter asking for the company
    to explain why they fund the ADL's "No Place for Hate" tolerance
    program. The ADL, a group that fights anti-Semitism and other forms
    of bigotry, has come under fire from Armenian-Americans and their
    supporters for failing to unequivocally call the Armenian Genocide
    a genocide.

    Several people went to the Town Council meeting to cheer the
    resolution. After the council decided to draft a letter, reactions
    were mixed. Berge Jololian wanted the council to do more.

    "It's taxpayer's money," he said. "Denying genocide is murdering the
    victims twice, by erasing their memory from the pages of history."

    Blue Cross is among the health insurance options for town employees.

    Blue Cross Blue Shield Spokesman Jay McQuaide said the healthcare
    provider would be happy to appear before the board.

    "They're an account," he said, "We'd be happy to talk to them."

    McQuaide said the healthcare provider was very happy to be associated
    with the ADL's mission.

    "We're very proud to be the first company to be named a 'No Place
    for Hate' company."

    The healthcare provider has been funding the ADL's program since 2001,
    he said.

    "It's a great message against intolerance," McQuaide said. "It's a
    key part of our diversity program for employees."

    Read the Town Council resolution (pdf)

    The letter will go out by August 14, Councilor at Large Mark Sideris
    said. Town Council President Clyde Younger pushed for the letter
    because he wanted to give the healthcare provider a chance to explain
    why they are apparently sending money to the Anti-Defamation League,
    despite the ADL's continuous refusal to call the eight-year slaughter
    of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman empire a genocide. It would
    be only fair to give BCBS a chance to explain themselves, Younger said.

    "I don't like to make decisions in ignorance," Younger told a council
    room packed with members of Watertown's Armenian community and their
    supporters. Younger is among those who has Blue Cross insurance.

    Councilors said if the health company does not appear before the board,
    they would go forward with a resolution demanding they stop sending
    cash to the ADL. That resolution was sponsored by Town Councilors
    Steve Corbett, a candidate for state representative, and co-signed
    by Councilors at Large Marilyn Devaney and Mark Sideris.

    "It's the next step toward advocating for the Armenian people,"
    Corbett said. "It's a simple request. We're requesting Blue Cross
    Blue Shield sever its ties with ADL and 'No Place for Hate.'"

    Watertown thinks it can tell Blue Cross Blue Shield what to do
    because many Watertown residents, including members of the council,
    have insurance with the company, Devaney said.

    "Blue Cross Blue Shield is blatantly using people's money, taking their
    subscribers' money and using it supporting programs to deny Armenian
    people their history, denying the Armenian genocide," Devaney said.

    The ADL did not return calls for comment.

    Of Blue Cross' 3,800 Massachusetts employees, McQuaide said, he was
    sure there were some of Armenian descent. McQuaide refused to state
    on the record how the company justifies the ADL's mission with its
    ongoing denial of the Armenian genocide.

    Khatchig Mouradian, editor of the Armenian Weekly, an Armenian
    newspaper based out of Watertown and circulating in 32 states across
    the East and West Coast, said the Town Council's resolution is the
    next step in a long process.

    "This issue hasn't stopped," Mouradian said. "As long as there are
    people in different towns and different communities willing to stand
    together with Armenians, the issue will continue to come up."

    Mouradian had harsh words for the Anti-Defamation League. They have
    not been doing their job, he said.

    "It is expected that the ADL be as firm when it comes to the denial
    of other holocausts," the editor said.

    When Watertown first stopped supporting 'No Place for Hate,'
    Mouradian said, a movement spread across Massachusetts, the country
    and eventually, the world.

    "Some of the major activists behind this were Watertown residents
    first," he said.

    Several nations changed their foreign policy decisions, Mouradian said.

    "It was being talked about in the Turkish Parliament," Mouradian
    said. "When ADL issued the statement [the Armenian Genocide] was
    'tantamount to genocide,' even the Turkish Parliament was upset."

    The Anti-Defamation League has posted a statement on their Web site
    after several municipalities in Massachusetts left or suspended their
    ties to 'No Place for Hate.' It said if the word genocide existed
    during the time of the Armenian genocide, from 1915-23, that word
    would have been used. The ADL refers to the three-year organized
    slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in living in the Ottoman Empire as
    "tantamount to genocide."

    "'Tantamount to genocide' is not good enough," said Alin Gregorian,
    editor of the Mirror Spectator, another Armenian paper based in
    Watertown.

    Gregorian said many of the survivors of the genocide are almost 100
    years old.

    "I'm afraid it won't get official recognition in their lifetimes,"
    she said.

    Devaney was overcome with emotion when she discussed why she cosigned
    Corbett's resolution.

    "They took the people across the desert, put them into caves and
    gassed them," Devaney said, sobbing. "Hitler got the idea from them."

    Devaney took credit for getting 13 municipalities to cut ties with 'No
    Place for Hate.' She said she had hope for Corbett's initiative, too.

    "I'm very confident. We're close. We're going to do it," Devaney
    said. "Right here, we should make a stand."

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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